Windy City 67 - 288 New Skids on The Block

OMAHA, NE – Montréal last played Windy City at ECDX 2015 and won quite decisively, 303-97. Montréal New Skids on the Block once again took the win at the 2015 WFTDA International D1 Playoffs in Omaha, despite scoring less, 288-67. Their differential improved from 206 to 221, suggesting a stronger defense that was able to limit Windy City’s scoring.

The first half was penalty heavy on both sides, 18 for Montréal—8 of which were jammer penalties— and 20 against Windy City—6 box trips by jammers. In the second half Montréal was able to curb their jammer penalties to only 1 while Windy City earned another 6.

Montréal took firm control of the game early on with a quick series of lead calls and impressive penalty kills right off the first whistle.

Despite their jammer taking a trip to the box just three minutes into the game, Montréal used the pack advantage to their favor to hold back Windy City’s Zoe Trocious for the whole 30 seconds. Montréal’s strong 3 wall and brace contained the jammer long enough to allow Falcon Punch to escape the pack first and then drew a track cut against Zoe Trocious.

That powerjam for Montréal didn’t last long, however as a blocking out of bounds penalty was called against their jammer while attempting to leap around Windy City’s wall. The ensuing power start for Jan Trainor provided Windy City with a perfect opportunity to put their first points on the board, but Montréal’s defense effectively killed the penalty, and shut out Windy City from the scoreboard once more.

And so, for the first eight jams of the game Montréal held Windy City completely scoreless, setting up a solid expectation for the rest of the game’s play. Windy City called a team timeout after 8 full minutes of being shut out.

It was after that time out that Windy City shifted strategies, and set up at the pivot line. Their attempt at change had little effect, gaining them no points, while Montréal won lead once again.

Jammer penalties weren’t the only thing that held Windy City back. Blocker penalties contributed to their struggle to earn lead jammer though in the second half they improved their percentage slightly from 23.5% to 23.8%. Windy City was not alone in blocker penalties issues; Montréal had a tendency to lose multiple blockers to the box in the same jam.

To Windy City’s credit, they were able to capitalize on such advantages with lead status. At 17:47 into play, Zoe Trocious earned lead while making the most out of a pack advantage for Windy City and scored Windy City’s first point of the game. Shortly thereafter, Killanois picked up lead and 4 points, once again while Windy City held a pack advantage.

But the additions were so slim for Windy that by the half Montréal was firmly in the lead, 137-28.

The second half began by echoing the start of the first half – Montréal held Windy City scoreless for the first jam. Jammer penalties were quick to reappear for both teams.

Mia Go Hamm picked up a forearm in the second jam, but a forearm was also issued to Miracle Whips. And so Montréal ended the jam on top. While this would be Montréal’s final jammer penalty of the half, Windy City added 5 more in subsequent jams across the rest of the game.

For the most part, both teams stuck with the same defensive formations from the first half, though Montréal used a slight variation on their standard braced 3-wall on occasion.

At one point, Montreal set up a 1-3 split wall at the pivot line aimed at disrupting Windy City’s wall but it did not work, as Windy picked up a quick lead. With jammer Killa Nois out for Windy City subsequently, but not lead, Montréal then removed the star and passed it to feed their own jammer through the pack, creating a 2 min jam, and adding substantial points again for the full jam.

By the last jam,Windy City ended the game with a single grand slam by Mia Go Hamm, taking the final score to a solid win for Canadians Montréal, 288-67.